Speeding remains most common motoring offence

Speeding remains the biggest motoring-related offence where the defendant is found guilty in court, and the number of speeding convictions rose sharply year-on-year in 2014, according to the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM).

Data obtained by the IAM from the Ministry of Justice shows the number of speeding convictions in court rose by 28% in the past 12 months – from 115,935 in 2013 to 148,426 in 2014. In addition, the 2014 figure is the highest since 2005.

The next most common offence in 2014 was vehicle insurance-related crimes, although the number of these has fallen dramatically (down 84%) in the past decade. Vehicle registration and excise duty offences (down 314%) and drink driving offences (down 96%) have also fallen substantially in the past 10 years.

Other offences with a significant number of guilty verdicts in court are neglecting road regulations (16,951 in 2014 – up 2% from 2013), using or causing others to use a mobile phone while driving (16,025 – down 8% from 2013) and driving licence-related offences (15,982 – down 10% from 2013).

Sarah Sillars, IAM chief executive officer, said: “We can see from these figures that as the UK comes out of recession traffic levels have risen, speeding appears to be becoming more prevalent and regrettably casualties are rising again.

“The government and police forces cannot afford to take their eye off the ball and more visible policing is, in our view, the key way to ensure that people don’t think they can get away with speeding.

“In addition local campaigns must remain high-profile to make sure drivers don’t get complacent, or forget that speed can kill.

“On a positive note, the joining up of databases across agencies and the increased use of number plate recognition cameras means some motoring crimes have fallen in big numbers.”

27 October 2015